I recently had the pleasure of moderating a panel with these entrepreneurs at the ASU+GSV Summit. The discussion, which was appropriately titled Home Room to Dormroom to Boardroom, focused on the challenges and opportunities of starting a business while in high school or college, and how these experiences affected the entrepreneurs’ career trajectories.

For me, the panel was both disheartening and enlightening. Many of the panelists felt that their universities could have done much more to support them as they started their first companies, while at the same time acknowledging the value of a liberal arts education. As I reflected on this panel, I realized that quite a few of the points they made are highly relevant to the 2019 graduating class—particularly those who are thinking about starting a business, or have already done so.

Before starting a business, reflect on your mindset and personal drive

One of the most common questions I get from recent grads is, “Should I start a business right after leaving school?”

John Katzman, founder of Princeton Review who is now CEO of Noodle Partners, stressed the importance of evaluating whether you have an entrepreneurial mindset:

If your mindset is solving problems, and you think, ‘I can’t believe they do it this way,’ it’s only logical to say, ‘Could I solve that?’ When you start thinking that way, starting your own business is almost inevitable.

Kendall Reynolds, founder of Kendall Miles Design, added that for her, starting a business wasn’t something she originally thought she’d do, but something that was born out of a passion project:

I never cared much about fashion... I taught myself how to do this because it was therapeutic. It was a passion project that turned legitimate business because money started coming in.

These two comments drove home a point I’ve long believed. Starting a business shouldn’t be something you force yourself to do, but rather something that you are personally driven to do.

There could be benefits to taking a job and working on your startup part-time

If you started a company while in school and are about to graduate, a question you’re likely weighing is whether to pursue the startup full-time after graduating, or take a more traditional job while working on your startup part-time. This year’s college graduates have the luxury of entering one of the best job markets in decades, making the decision all the more difficult.

Darshan Somashekar, creator of EasyBib who is now VP of Product for Chegg, took a job after leaving school, and reflected on the value of entering the workforce:

After college, EasyBib had grown to the point where we could work on it [full time]. [My parents] wanted me to get a full time job, and in retrospect, I think that was a good idea. That network has helped me [in my career].

There isn’t an objectively right answer for whether to take a job or pursue a startup full-time after leaving school. But if you think the job will open you up to a community of people who could help you personally or professionally in the long-run, this is one consideration you should weigh carefully.

Remember that people who have more experience than you are still your peers in the business world

As a recent grad, you might think that people you meet in the business world will treat you like a student. And this will be true in some cases—people with more experience than you may assume that you’re in need of coaching.

But if you’re the founder of a company, and taking business meetings with people who have been working for decades, it’s important that you go into these meetings with the mindset that you are peers. Reynolds elaborated on this point, saying:

I’m a 25-year-old CEO. I’m meeting with people who are 50 or 60 years old. I have to unlearn that just because they’re older doesn’t mean they’re talking down at me.

Your education does not stop after college

In discussing the importance of a liberal arts education, Ashu Desai, founder of Make School, a computer science college in San Francisco, made a point that is very applicable to this year’s graduating class:

You don’t just stop learning liberal arts when you leave college. You should be learning for the rest of your life.

Desai, who dropped out of college, got into Y Combinator, and is now the founder of a university himself, also described the learning that he hopes students do while in school, which they should continue throughout their careers:

It’s about understanding learning to learn, understanding yourself, and iterating on your engine. When we think about the cornerstones of education, there needs to be a cornerstone around liberal arts, there needs to be a component around character development… and there needs to be a cornerstone around practical skills.

I’ll leave you with one final thought. If you do decide to start a business after graduating, remember that there is incredible value in the experience of trying to get a company off the ground, regardless of whether your business takes off. As I wrote last year, what you learn about success and failure through starting a company will be helpful to you, both personally and professionally, for many years to come.

Jodi Goldstein is the Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs. Follow her on Twitter @jgoldstein.